The Book of Vayikra (Leviticus) which we start reading
this week, is also known as Toras Kohanim - the Laws of
the Priests. It deals largely with the korbanos (offerings)
that are brought in the Mishkan (Tent of Meeting). The
first group of offerings is called korban olah, a burnt
offering. The animal is brought to the entrance of the Mishkan.
Regarding cattle, the one who brought the offering sets his hands
on the animal. Afterwards it is slaughtered and the kohen
sprinkles its blood on the altar. The animal is skinned and
cut into pieces. The pieces are arranged, washed and burned on
the altar. A similar process is described involving burnt offerings
of other animals and birds. The various meal offerings are described.
Part of the meal offering is burned on the altar, and the remaining
part is eaten by the kohanim. Mixing leaven or honey into
the offerings is prohibited. The peace offering, part of which
is burnt on the altar and part is eaten, can be either from cattle,
sheep or goats. The Torah prohibits eating blood or chelev
(certain fats in animals). The offerings that atone for inadvertent
sins committed by the kohen gadol, by the entire community,
by the prince and by the average citizen are detailed. Laws of
the guilt-offering, which atones for certain verbal transgressions
and for transgressing laws of ritual purity are listed. The meal
offering for those who cannot afford the normal guilt offering,
the offering to atone for misusing sanctified property, laws of
the "questionable guilt" offering, and offerings for
dishonesty are detailed.

The world is a very precise place. It seems that
there are no loose ends in Creation. If you stand on the edge
of a cliff, a couple of inches is all that separates you from
instant death. The tiniest embolism in a vein can end the function
of the entire body. This world is built to very fine tolerances.

Which is why the Torah too is built to very fine
tolerances. When all the letters in your tefillin are written
within the correct halachic norms, wearing them connects you to
the Source. With one letter incorrectly formed, you're wearing
nothing more than funny-looking boxes. Turn on a light two minutes
before Shabbos and you lit up the room. Turn it on two minutes
and one second later and you plunged the world and yourself into
spiritual darkness.

The Torah is as precise as a scientific formula.
Which makes it difficult to understand why there should be a
whole area where the Torah is seemingly vague: In the times of
the Holy Temple, when a person brought a korban nedava -
a voluntary gift-offering - the Torah makes no stipulation as
to how large or small it should be. It was left entirely up to
the person who brought the offering.

Go into a hospital and watch people working. The
ones who are running around the most and working the hardest are
probably the volunteers. When we give what we want to
give, we give it with a full heart. When our gift is mandated,
it detracts from our enthusiasm. The essence of the voluntary
offering was not the offerng itself, but the love that was wrapped
inside it. To the extent that we are able to express ourselves
in the giving, to that extent will be our feeling of giving.

The tzitzis (fringes on a four-cornered garment)
can be seen as symbols of this symbiotic relationship between
the Torah and Man. Part of the tzitzis are tied. Part
of the Torah is as immovable as any law of the physical world;
gravity, thermodynamics, calculus. Part of the tzitzis
are untied: The Torah mandates that we use every last ounce of
our individuality to serve the Creator. I am not you. You are
not me. G-d made us all, and He wants us to serve Him as ourselves,
not as each other. Interestingly, if you look at the tzitzis,
you will see that the correct proportion of the tied part to the
untied part is one third to two thirds. The majority of this
world consists of the loose ends of Creation which each one of
us is invited to tie in our own unique way.

A FORTIORI

"A satisfying aroma to Hashem" (1:9)

When a person brings an elevation offering to G-d,
he may bring either cattle, sheep, birds or fine flour. After
each of these categories, the Torah uses the phrase "a
satisfying aroma to Hashem."

Obviously, cattle are more expensive than sheep,
which are more expensive than fowl, which are more expensive than
fine flour. If the Torah wanted to tell us that G-d views all
these offerings equally, wouldn't it have been enough to say that
fine flour is "a satisfying aroma to Hashem,"
and we would have made the logical inference that fowl, sheep
and cattle were certainly "a satisfying aroma to Hashem?"

The answer is that had the Torah left this lesson
to a fortiori logic, we might have made the mistaken assumption
that fine flour was "a satisfying aroma to Hashem,"
and all the more so fowl; that sheep were yet more acceptable
and cattle - most of all. For this reason, the Torah writes after
each category "a satisfying aroma to Hashem"
to teach us that whether an offering is large or small, G-d looks
at them absolutely equally, provided our intentions are for the
sake of our Father in Heaven.

Of all his names, the only one that G-d used was
Moshe, the name that Basya, Pharaoh's daughter, called him. If
G-d Himself used the name "Moshe," it must be that this
name defines Moshe more than any of his other names. Why?

When G-d created Adam, the ministering angels asked,
"This man, what is his nature?" G-d replied, "His
wisdom is greater than yours."

G-d then brought various animals before the angels
and asked, "What are their names?" The angels didn't
know. G-d then showed the animals to Man. "What are their
names?" He asked. Man replied "This one's name is
ox, and this one, donkey. This is a horse, and this a camel."

"And you," said G-d, "What is your
name?"

"I should be called Adam because I have been
created from the earth (Hebrew - adamah)."

"And I," said G-d "what should I
be called?"

"You should be called Adon-oy; for you are
the Lord (Hebrew - Adon) of all."

The Holy One, blessed be He, said "I am Adon-oy.
That is My Name. For that is what Adam has called me."

A name is more than a way of attracting someone's
attention, more than a conventional method of reference. The
wisdom of being able to name something is higher than that of
the angels, for a name defines and describes the very essence.

For this reason one name was not sufficient for
Moshe. In order to define him, to bound his greatness in words,
ten names were required.

However, G-d said to Moshe that of all his names,
He would only call him by the name Pharaoh's daughter, Basya,
named him. What was so special about this name?

The name Moshe comes from the word meaning "to
be drawn," for Moshe was drawn from the water by Basya.

When Basya took Moshe out of the river, she was
flouting her father's will. Pharaoh wanted to kill all the Jewish
baby boys. By saving Moshe, she put her life on the line.

Because Basya risked her life to save Moshe, that
quality was embedded in Moshe's personality and in his soul.
It was this quality of self-sacrifice that epitomized Moshe more
than all his other qualities, and for this reason Moshe was the
only name that G-d would call him.

This was the characteristic that made Moshe the
quintessential leader of the Jewish People. For more than any
other trait, a leader of the Jewish People needs self-sacrifice
to care and worry over each one of his flock.

Yechezkel 45:16 - 46:18

This prophecy chastises the Jewish People for their
sins. The repeated motto being that it is better to adhere to
the words of G-d than to sin and offer sacrifices. This is related
to the weekly Parsha that deals with the laws of the sacrifices.
We also find in this haftarah sarcastic ridicule towards the
senseless practice of pagan worship: The prophet tells of a man
who sawed a piece of timber in two, half of which he used to cook
his meal, while from the other half he created an idol before
which he prostrates himself, fervently begging for mercy and salvation.

AN HONOR, NOT A BURDEN

"Jacob did not proclaim Me, as you felt
wearied by Me, O Israel." (43:22).

A true servant of G-d, one who acts for to sanctify
the Name of the Almighty, finds enjoyment and satisfaction in
the worship of G-d. He does not consider the strict and numerous
prohibitions of the Torah encumbering, nor the many obligations
a burden. To him they are a privilege he is proud of, just like
a king who isn't bothered by the weight of his heavily jeweled
crown.

G-d does not need our service; He is omnipotent
and complete. The commandments are solely for our benefit.
The prophet proclaims that if one feels encumbered by his duties
as a Jew, then he does not understand the concept of the worship
of G-d, and therefore is not serving the Almighty truthfully.

Selections from classical Torah sources
which express the special relationship between
the People of Israel and Eretz Yisrael

BEERSHEBA

The name of this city, which played such an important
role in the lives of Patriarchs, comes from the covenant which
Avraham made with the Philistine ruler Avimelech. They sealed
this pact with an oath near the site where Avraham discovered
a spring of water ("Be'er" - spring, "Sheva"
- oath) and then established there his "eishel"
as the base for his legendary hospitality. The well built upon
this spring was eventually stuffed up by the Philistines until
Avraham's son Yitzchak restored it to use. He called it by the
same name to mark the covenant he made with the very same Philistines.
It was from Beersheba that Yaakov set out on his journey from
Eretz Yisrael.

Modern Beersheba is Israel's largest development
town and is known as the "Capital of the Negev." During
the War of Independence it was initially captured by the Egyptians
but later conquered by Israeli forces in "Operation Ten Plagues."